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The relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and the brain age gap
Yolana C Martin, Nagesh Adluru, Veena A. Nair, Vivek Prabhakaran, Andrew L. Alexander, Sterling C. Johnson, Sanjay Asthana, W. Ryan Powell et al.. Alzheimer s & Dementia, 2024-12-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Abstract Background Accelerated aging is strongly linked to adverse social exposome and accelerated aging of the brain may be a dementia risk factor. Machine‐learning can estimate the biological “brain age” from neuroimages, which provides complementary information to the chronological/calendar age. The difference between biological and chronological age is referred to as the “brain age gap.” The Area Deprivation Index is a metric representing 17 indicators of neighborhood level poverty, education, employment, and physical environment, and provides a robust measure of the social exposome. The purpose of this work was to test the relationship between neighborhood‐level disadvantage and accelerated brain aging using brain age gap estimates in a Wisconsin cohort. Method Brain age was estimated using T1‐weighted MR images from 1052 participants enrolled in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention or Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center studies. Brain age was estimated using a publicly available deep learning model called the two‐stage‐age‐network (TSAN) that was pre‐trained on >4000 scans from OASIS, ADNI‐I, and PAC‐2019 datasets. Average brain age was used when multiple images were available at the same time point. Participants’ addresses were geolinked to their statewide ranking of neighborhood disadvantage using a time‐concordant ADI. Participants were binned by quintile based on state ADI rank, where Quintile 5 comprised of participants with highest ADI (Table 1). In the analyses, Quintile 5 was compared to a grouped category of Quintiles 1‐4. A marginal means test was conducted on a fitted one‐way ANOVA model to assess differences in mean brain age gaps between Quintile 5 and Quintiles 1‐4. The ANOVA model used quintile as a fixed effect predictor variable of brain age gap and a random effect of participant ID to account for participants with multiple visits. Result The mean brain age gap for Quintile 5 was 0.96 years (‐0.79, 2.71), and for Quintiles 1‐4 was 0.27 years (‐0.12, 0.66) (Figure 1). Conclusion This analysis found that the mean brain age gap does not significantly differ between Quintile 5 and Quintiles 1‐4 (p≤0.45), however statistical power was low given very broad confidence intervals. Future work will test for longitudinal effects and incorporate a larger sample.
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APA 7th
Martin, Y. C., Adluru, N., Nair, V. A., Prabhakaran, V., Alexander, A. L., Johnson, S. C., et al. (2024). The relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and the brain age gap. Alzheimer s & Dementia. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.092973
Vancouver
Martin YC, Adluru N, Nair VA, Prabhakaran V, Alexander AL, Johnson SC, et al. The relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and the brain age gap. Alzheimer s & Dementia. 2024. doi:10.1002/alz.092973.
BibTeX
@article{martin2024-9f19ee85,
author = {Martin, Yolana C and Adluru, Nagesh and Nair, Veena A. and Prabhakaran, Vivek and Alexander, Andrew L. and Johnson, Sterling C. and Asthana, Sanjay and Powell, W. Ryan and others},
title = {{The relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and the brain age gap}},
journal = {Alzheimer s \& Dementia},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1002/alz.092973},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.092973}
}
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Key findings
- In the analyses, Quintile 5 was compared to a grouped category of Quintiles 1‐4.
- Result The mean brain age gap for Quintile 5 was 0.96 years (‐0.79, 2.71), and for Quintiles 1‐4 was 0.27 years (‐0.12, 0.66) (Figure 1).
- Conclusion This analysis found that the mean brain age gap does not significantly differ between Quintile 5 and Quintiles 1‐4 (p≤0.45), however statistical power was low given very broad confidence intervals.
Why it matters
This study tested the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and accelerated brain aging using brain age gap estimates in 1052 Wisconsin participants. It found that the mean brain age gap did not significantly differ between the most disadvantaged quintile and the other quintiles, though statistical power was low given very broad confidence intervals.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Participants1,052
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 49/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Alzheimer s & Dementia) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Alzheimer s & Dementia: journal h-index 228 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2024 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,052 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 1 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.2 citations a year over 4 year(s) since 2024 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 1 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Barbara B. Bendlin: h-index 64 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Wisconsin–Madison: institution h-index 1,518 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 49 / 100 | — |
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